Thinking Of You
by leira123
Summary: Claire's parents are dead. But she keeps thinking of someone. But she can't remember who. Claire goes through her story, about her horrifying past, and a family she never knew she had.
1. Chapter 1

**Claire's POV**

I stood in the middle of a graveyard. I knew it was bad to be here. Of course it was bad to be here. But staring down at my mother and father's graves brought me some reality, since things hadn't seemed too real in the past few days.

_I had been putting my bag in my room, after coming home from collage. I walked down the stairs, grabbing the ringing phone. _

_ "Glass House, Claire Danvers speaking." I had absentmindedly riddled off, as I watched Shane and Michael play a zombie game. _

_ "Mrs. Danvers. This is Officer Scott, calling about your parents."_

_ "Is everything ok?"_

_ "Mrs. Danvers, your parents were in a severe car accident earlier this morning. It was impossible to identify them, because they carried no identifications, no founder's bracelets. Amelie came to the sight, and identified them. My sincere condolences."_

_ I sunk to the ground, after letting out a shrill shriek of horror. I vaguely saw Shane and Michael rush to me. Clutching the phone tighter to my body, I whispered a question. "So what are you saying? Are you saying that their dead?"_

_ "I'm afraid so. Amelie should be coming by later today-"_

"_No, I think you have the wrong number." I started, my heart 1,000 miles an hour. "That can't be right."_

"_If your Claire Marie Danvers, and your parents are David, and Jean Danvers, then I'm afraid that this is the right number."_

"_That's impossible!" I shrieked into the phone. "They can't be dead, they were just here this morning!"_

"_Mamn, this would be better talked over in person. I just wanted to inform you of the problem at hand here."_

"_There is no problem!" I cried, ignoring the startled looks from Shane and Michael. "Because their not dead! You have the wrong number!" the phone cut off, as I threw the phone across the room and started to scream._

Wincing from the flashback, I stared at the graves that were buried earlier this morning. Shane was in the car, waiting. He had been so good to me in the past days, wanting to comfort me in my mourning. He knew all about losses, he said. Growing up in a dysfunctional family helped him in the long run.

But I felt cheated. I didn't just loose my mom, or my dad. I lost them both. I hated that term. I 'lost' my parents. There not missing. There dead. And there not coming back. I wanted to go home, find a dark place, and just sleep until I died. But that's depressing.

So I placed the roses on their grave and whispered goodbye to my parents, my only family. I had no aunts, no uncles here with me. They were off, celebrating with my parents. A few old friends had come to the funeral, and a family that my mother had been close to, here in Morganville. But they left, after I assured them that I had a loving place to stay tonight.

I smiled thinly to Shane, who had been leaning against the car, watching me.

"You know that's kinda creepy, right?"

He shrugged, awarding me with a half smile that sealed a tiny crack in my broken heart. "This is a scary place."

I nodded, taking his hand in mine. His hand was so large compared to my own. I glanced down, chuckling slightly at an ironic thought.

"What is it?"

"My parents." I said giggling. "I know this isn't funny, but to think that my parents died from a _**car accident**_, in _**Morganville**_. That has to be the epiphany of irony, am I right?"

"I know you keep forgetting Claire, because of my charming attitude, and extremely good looks, but I don't have super genius Claire brain. I don't know these big words."

I smiled at him, getting into the car as we drove home. It truly was my home now. Other than my parents place, the Glass House was my home, which held the only family I had left.

"If my mom were here right now, you know what she'd say?" I asked Shane. He shook his head, glancing at me. "She would be giving me a hard time on my shoes, I kid you not."

I had worn my favorite brown shoes. My dad gave them to my for my birthday, last year. My mom hated them, claiming they were slacker shoes. The shoes were beat up and dirty now, but they had been super comfy house looking shoes in the beginning. And brown, as a well known fact, did not go with black.

He shook his head, smiling along with me. He got along with my mother more than they let on. I secretly think that she approved of him, but my father's stubbornness got in the way of her thought process.

We pulled into the drive way, hand in hand. Holding Shane's hand never seemed to be a big thing, until my parents died. Now, all I wanted to do was hold his hand, touch his cheek, or kiss his forehead.

"Hey Shane?" I asked.

"Yea babe?" he said pulling us through the doors, and into the smell of tacos.

"You'd tell me if I was being clingy, right?"

He stared at me in shock, as Eve came dancing into the room. She smiled at me, taking my other hand, and pulled me into the kitchen. I smiled at her, as she sat me down with a big plate of Tacos.

"Thanks Eve!" I called after her, as she moved from the kitchen to the Living Room. She blew me a kiss, as she ran up the stairs. I turned back to Shane, who had recaptured my hand, looking into my eyes.

"Claire. You are not clingy. God. Your going through a lot right now, and I'm glad that I get to be here for you." He leaned forward, and gave me a kiss on my forehead. We have been strictly kissing on face, not lips too. I don't know whose rule that was. I'm pretty sure that it was Shane's because I hate that rule.

Eve came back in the kitchen, bringing her hot vampire boyfriend in tow. Michael was in all ways but blood, my brother. He looked at me sadly, probably thinking about the same thing I was.

_ "Claire, what's the matter, what is it?" Michael had asked, after I threw the phone. My breath was coming in shorter and shorter, as I stared blankly at the wall. "Shane, go in the kitchen, and grab a paper bag." I heard. I vaguely saw Shane stand up and rush away. Everything was thick, like I was seeing through thick glass, and hearing though a tunnel. _

_ Tears slowly coursed down my cheeks, as I pulled in shakier and shorter breaths. I was sitting on the stairs, looking at Michael's ear. He has interesting ears, you know. The colors around his ear, making it seem so pretty…_

_ "Claire, I need you to look at me, ok?" Michael had said, pulling my face towards his. "Claire, who was on the phone? Claire, this is important. I need you to tell me if everything's ok. Are vampires coming to our house?"_

_ I shook my head slightly, tears splashing off of my cheeks. My head feels so light…_

_ "Claire, I need you to stay with me, ok?" he said, as Shane came rushing back into the room. Michael opened the bag, and pressed it to my lips. The air seemed thicker, better for breathing. I was able to focus on Michaels face._

_ "Claire, who died? You said someone died? I need you to tell me." Michael had said, staring into my eyes. My lips trembled, as I tried to pull in enough breath to tell him. Things were too dizzy right now._

_ "Claire?" I heard someone say behind me. Eve rushed down the stairs, taking my hand. "What happened to her?"_

_ "I don't know!" Shane said frustrated. "She talked on the phone for a second, and then screamed, and started to have a panic attack!" _

_ "Claire." Michael said looking in my eyes. I saw something familiar. A name popped into my head. For some reason, I wanted to call Michael, Danny. His eyes, bored _

_into mine, as I struggled with a faint thought, that slipped away. "Claire, who died?"_

_ I drew in a shaky breath, as I cried out, "My Mom and Daddy!"_

"Whatcha up to Claire Bear?" Michael said, taco coming out of the corner of his mouth. I smiled at him, shrugging, putting the taco I had just taken a bite out of, back onto its plate. I hadn't been too hungry. But when tacos were fixed, I never complained.

"Nothin much. How was VC?" I asked. VC was the vampire council. Since recent events, the VC became more exclusive. Every vampire was required to go. But they didn't all have a say in what happened.

"The same. Boring."

I laughed, and took the last bite of my taco. "I'm starting work and school again tomorrow." I stated, standing up to put my plate in the sink.

Three pairs of eyes stared at me in shock. "Claire." Eve started. "We all know you hate to be behind and all, but you gotta give yourself some time to…"

"Heal?" I asked. "I'm fine, really. And there's no point in having a Claire pity party. And I might as well start tomorrow."

The silence in the room was awkward. I sighed, and turned around. "I'm ok. Really. I promise. Am I sad? Yes. Do I miss them? Hell yes. But I knew I had to say goodbye to them someday. And it happened. I just want things to go back to normal, ok?"

Before they could respond, the door rang. I sighed, and went to open the door. Anna from school came to drop by my work. With a smile, I thanked her, and went back into the kitchen. The three were whispering furiously to each other, but as soon as I walked in, they fell silent.

I rolled my eyes, and continued to the fridge, to grab me a drink. Pushing Michael's blood aside, I grabbed a bottle of water.

"Hey CB." Eve started, walking towards me. "Some guy came by the house today, looking for you. Said he'd be back tomorrow."

I looked at her curiously. "Who was he?"

She shrugged, putting her plate in the sink, along with mine. "I don't know. He was real tall, and, um, gorgeous." Michael growled, looking up from Shane. "You know he holds no candle to you, _**dear**_." Eve stated sarcastically, smiling as Michael turned away.

"Is he a relative or something Claire?" Michael said. "He looked a lot like you."

"He looked like me?"

They must have heard the shock in my voice, since they all turned around and stared. "Yea, he did. He had brown hair and brown eyes, just like you."

"Descriptive." Eve smirked. "He had the same, like face as you. It was surreal. Was he like a cousin or something?"

I shook my head, frowning. This was weird. "What was his name?"

"I'm not sure. Shane, do you remember his name?"

"I wasn't here smart ass."

"Oh, bite me. Michael, do you? And no biting, please." Michael rolled his eyes, and scrunched up his face.

"It was something familiar…hmmmm….Manny maybe?"

"Danny?" I asked.

"Yea, that's it! Do you know him?"

My head grew foggy as I tried to think about it. It was almost like the panic attack. Things grew thick in my head, until I stopped trying to remember. "No." I said. "I've never heard of him in my life."

_**Just had some thoughts on the whole thing! This is my first Fan Fiction, and I would love a review. Tell me if I have anything going here:) **_

_**PS: In case some of you are wondering, I am an Shane fan. Michael, as it was shone, is just a brotherly figure. Wasn't able to put much Shane in, but hoping to put his perspective in next!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Shane's POV**

The past few days have been scary. Once she told us that her parents had died, she went into a full on sobbing… thing. She hadn't said anything after that. I picked her up, feeling slow, not fully processing what was going on. Eve had picked up the phone, and redialed the number, checking to see what had happened.

I was so afraid.

After Lyssa and Mom died, I tried not to stay attached to any one thing, you know? Nothing that would cause me more hurt. But when I came back here for Michael and Eve, I thought, two more, what will that hurt? But Claire… she's different, from them all. I needed her… a necessity, not a want.

Panicking, I went over to check out what Eve had found out. Once they had conformed it, I felt like bricks fell from the sky. The world was ending, and I had no way of getting to Claire, and hiding her from the danger.

She kinda went into a blank state for a couple of days, just doing enough to take care of herself, and did what she could for us. But then, she just turned…. Fine. Like it was all ok, and that she was….

I don't know how to explain it, ok? She just acted like nothing happened. Or if not that, like she was able to handle it all. And I know that your thinking "Isn't that a good thing? That she's able to get past the bad in her life, and move on?"

Yea, yea, I get that. But I also get her. She's in pain. She's hurting. But she won't

let anyone in to help her. After I figured out about Morganville, my sole purpose in life was to take revenge with my father. Then once I got here, my motives changed. I had no way to cope. So I dated around. Tried to get my mind off of living in the belly of the whale and all. But when I finally did realize that I wasn't ok, it hurt.

Like hell.

So I knew what Claire was doing. So, I tried everything I could to make her break. Sounds evil, right? Like im trying to hurt her feelings? But I did everything I could to make her cry. I even stepped on her toe. And she just play punched me, and went to go put on a band-aid.

When we drove out to the funeral, I expected her to freak. But I didn't get a single emotion until after everyone left. The silent tears. Eve and Michael had already gone home, leaving just us two. I left her alone, wanting to let her break down. I stayed in the car. I almost got out, but my phone started to buzz.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Shane?"

"Hey Michael." I commented. "What do you need?"

"Im not sure if this is anything important, but I'm kinda freaked out, and so is Eve, so we thought you might need to know."

"What is it?" I asked, my voice growing cold.

"Some guy came to the house, looking for Claire."

"What he a vampire?"

"No, he just wanted to talk to her. All human." Michael said.

"Well, I don't see the big deal. Lots of people come after death Michael. It happens you-"

"That's not it smart ass. Listen for a second. This guy, he looked just like her."

I paused, not sure what to say. "Maybe he's a cousin or something…" I offered, trying to find a way to process this. I heard a high voice in the background, rambling.

"Ok Eve, hold on…" he said away from the phone in annoyance. I vaguely heard the word, _so cute._ "Eve said to remind you that she has no aunts or uncles." In a grumpy voice.

I paused for a second, trying to figure out a loophole. "Um…"

"Exactly."

"What exactly did he say?"

"I'll tell you when you get here, I have to go to VC."

"Ok, I'll see you then."

I got out of the car, leaning against it to watch Claire stand there. I knew she hated all the attention, but I wanted to cry for her. She was in pain, dammit! I wanted to fix that. I sighed in defeat, content with just watching her.

She turned around, and got in the car. We talked on the way home, talking mostly about her parents. I felt distracted, wanting to say something, but not knowing what. We came up to the house, and I smiled at her warm touch in my hand.

"Hey Shane?" she asked me quietly.

"Yea babe?" I returned, pulling us through the door, into the smell of tacos. I sniffed, and frowned. No one put any hot sauce in.

"You'd tell me if I was being clingy, right?

I stared at her in shock. Did she really just ask if she was being clingy? Lately, I feel like I've been talking to a brick wall. An emotionless brick wall…

Eve came and went from the room, doing some weird ballerina dance, delivering the place of tacos to Claire like a fairy. Claire thanked her, avoiding my stare.

"Claire. You are not clingy. God. You're going through a lot right now, and I'm glad that I get to be here for you." I leaned forward, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. I made it quick, knowing she probably didn't want me kissing all over her right now. She pouted for some odd reason, until the Tinkerbell came in with Fang boy.

Michael looked at sadly for a minute, the two sharing a memory, until he snapped out of it.

"Whatcha up to Claire Bear?" Michael said, taco coming out of the corner of his mouth. Pig. I sighed, standing up to make my own taco. I heard Michael and Claire

discuss the VC, while I went and grabbed a coke from the pantry. I glanced over at Claire, and saw her munching on her tacos. The sight made me smile. I truged over to my seat, sinking down into my comfort spot, and started to dig in.

Claire finished her taco, and stood up. "I'm starting work and school again tomorrow."

We all stared at her in shock. What the hell was she thinking? This self… this martyr crap has got to go.

"Claire." Eve started. "We all know you hate to be behind and all, but you gotta give yourself some time to…"

"Heal?" she asked. "I'm fine, really. And there's no point in having a Claire pity party. And I might as well start tomorrow."

I frowned, looking over at Michael, who was rolling his eyes in exasperation. The silence got thick. Claire squirmed uncomfortably, and sighed.

"I'm ok. Really. I promise. Am I sad? Yes. Do I miss them? Hell yes. But I knew I had to say goodbye to them someday. And it happened. I just want things to go back to normal, ok?"

Before we could respond, and oh, was I going to respond, the door bell rang. Claire got up and went to open the door.

"Oh my God, what is her deal?" Eve whispered. "I don't even like my parents, but I'd be some sort of depressed at this point.

"I don't know, but we got to fix her, and fast!" I muttered.

"I don't think she needs fixing," Michael said with a sigh. "She just needs time. She's learning to cope. I doubt she's ever lost anyone before."

"No, its like she's lost so many people, that at this point, its almost normal." Eve hissed. We all started talking at once, trying to have our theories heard, when Claire walked back into the room. We fell silent.

She rolled her eyes, walking to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. The sight of the blood being moved in the fridge made me woozy.

"Hey CB." Eve started, walking towards Claire. "Some guy came by the house today, looking for you. Said he'd be back tomorrow."

I frowned. I hadn't had the explanation yet. I wasn't sure if this was something that could have been avoided, until a later date, when I knew that it wasn't something that was bad, or like, killer.

Claire looked at her in curiosity. "Who was he?"

I looked at Michael, trying to figure out some information on this no name guy. Michael just shrugged, showing me that he knew nothing. Helpful.

Eve shrugged, putting her plate in the sink with Claire's. "I don't know. He was real tall, and, um, gorgeous." Michael glared, growling at Eve. "You know he holds no candle to you, _**dear**_." Eve stated sarcastically.

"Is he a relative or something Claire?" Michael said. "He looked a lot like you."

"He looked like me?"

We all stared at her. She obviously had no idea of anyone that we could have been talking about. I grew nervous. "Yea, he did. He had brown hair and brown eyes, just like you." Michael said.

"Descriptive." Eve smirked. "He had the same, like face as you. It was surreal. Was he like a cousin or something?

I frowned. This was weird. I didn't like that no one knew who this guy was.

"What was his name?"

"I'm not sure. Shane, do you remember his name?"

"I wasn't here smart ass." I reminded her with a smirk.

"Oh, bite me. Michael, do you? And no biting, please." Michael rolled his eyes, and scrunched up his face.

"It was something familiar…hmmmm….Manny maybe?"

"Danny?" Claire asked.

"Yea, that's it! Do you know him?"

Claire frowned, as if in thought. "No." she said. "I've never heard of him in my life."

I nodded, continuing to finish my 4th taco, trying not to think of the possibilities this visitor could bring.

**Ok, I know that this was pretty much, just a recap on the last chapter, but since im trying to update a lot, I hope you will forgive me! BTW, Shane isn't crazy. He's just worried that Claire isn't as freaked out as any normal person. He really loves her. **

**PS: Suggestions welcomed! I'm flexible on where this story is going to end up heading.**

**PPS: Thank you ****VampireForever97 for commenting :) it made my day.**


	3. Chapter 3

The next week was more or less the same. We all waited to see if this mystery guy would come, but he never did. The only person who was disappointed was Eve, and I think she's just playing, trying to make Michael mad.

I went back to work. Myrnin was away on "Amelie business," so I didn't see him. Though I said I wanted to go back to work and school, I really just wanted to stay home. But thinking of my mother and father's reaction, I continued on. But Friday came as a blessing, and I rushed home from school thankful for my break.

I walked into the house, stepping over the giant pile of shoes, and into the living room. Shane was playing a video game, while Michael was playing his guitar. The soothing music calmed my nerves, and I flopped onto the couch face first, relaxing completely.

"Long day?" Michael asked. He looked peaceful, strumming the notes on his guitar. Shane leaned back onto the couch, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Not horrible." I countered. Aside from the regular Monica drama, I liked school. In high school, having a total of one friend, didn't pull me up on the social ladder. I never really developed social skills. But at least I live in the land of misfits.

"Well, not horrible days, equal pretty damn good ones here." Michael said, after putting away his guitar.  
"Agreed." Shane and I chime. "Where's Eve?"

"She's at work, as usual."

"When are you going to get a job, lazy?" I ask Shane. He shrugs. "When there is a job that requires sleeping and video game privileges."

"I'm sure they need a monkey at the zoo." I teased. Shane pulled my arm, and I rolled off of the couch. Relentlessly tickling me, I screamed. Michael rolled his eyes, and walked upstairs to his room. Taking advantage of this fact, I leaned down and kissed him. Tingles ran up and down my arms, as he flipped me over, to where my back was on the ground, and started kissing me.

I felt safe around Shane. I always have. He's a secure person. He may not know who he is, or what he wants to do in his life, but he knows people. He's able to look at someone, and tell if their good, or bad. He is a people person.

"Hey Shane?" I breathed, after a few minutes.

"Hmm." He mumbled against my neck.

"You know what I think you'd be good at?"

"Mmmmm."

"Being a video game designer."

Shane stopped kissing me, and leaned up to look at me. "What

"I mean, you don't have too." I started, stumbling around after my words. I

insulted him! "I just thought that, since you've played for so long, and you know what

makes a good game, that you'd be able to make, you know, a real kick ass? game. I know you'd have to go to collage, and you don't have to, but I was just thinking about it earlier this afternoon-"

Shane pressed his lips against mine, to silence my rambling. He kissed me for a moment, before leaning back again, thinking.

"You know, I actually might like that idea."

I looked at him in shock, surprised at the response. A thrill of joy surged through me. I don't mind that Shane doesn't have really any ambition. I figure I have enough for the both of us. But I want him to do something that makes him happy. Something that thrills him, and makes him proud at the end of the day.

"Really?" I asked.

"I'll think about it squirt."

I frowned, pushing him off of me. "I am not "Squirt", ok?" Shane laughed, and I grabbed my bag, and stalked up the stairs. But I was really holding in a smile. Shane was thinking about going to collage, and doing something.

Eve came home early that afternoon, and we all decided to have a fun night Eve, had gone to town, and brought home Pizza. I brought out the game of scrabble, since it was my turn to choose. Shane and Michael argued profusely of who my partner should be. I blushed. Shane ended up pulling the boyfriend card, and contentedly snuggled up to me.

We played for an hour or so, occasionally hearing a cry of victory, or a moan of defeat. Shane and I (really just me, because Shane only found one word) won the game by 500 points. Smugly laughing, I picked up dishes, only to hear the door ring. I called not getting it, by running into the kitchen, washing the dishes. Eve and Michael ran upstairs, laughing.

Shane moaned and stood up, dragging himself to the door. Quickly throwing the plastic cups and plates in the trash, I walked toward Shane. Shane opened the door, and there standing in the rain, was Oliver, Amelie, and a beat up man, who was being dragged my Oliver.

Amelie continued into the threshold without words. I wondered, somewhere in the back of my mine, why she didn't just walk in, in the first place. Oliver dragged the man inside, and I vaguely heard Michael and Eve run into the living room, where Oliver and Amelie had gone into.

"What the hell?" Shane muttered, walking in behind them

"Claire, we need to talk." Amelie said, her eyes staring holes into me. She wasn't mad. Just staring intently at me, like I had the answers to the test printed on my forehead.

I felt uneasy. I knew those five words didn't go together, and especially not in that order.

I looked at the man on the ground. His head was down, but I could tell from the side of his face that he was bloodied up.

"You bit him?" I asked in shock.

"No, but he tried to get away. He ended up falling down a steep hill, and once we found out that he had been here, we decided to just bring him here.

"Why did you bring him here? Why couldn't I just come down to the station, and I could just see him there?"

"There have been…complications of the law enforcement." Amelie said reluctantly. "It will all be explained in due course. But I need to know of this man, do you know him or not."

Oliver groaned, obviously not pleased in being here, but lifted the man by his hair.

"That's the guy!" Eve said in shock.

I stared at this man. He was, indeed handsome. His face was not injured, so it showed his profile. I see why everyone thought he looked like me. His hair was my same color, if not a shade darker. And we had the same bone structure, though his jaw was more defined, and masculine. I stared at the eyes that were not mine. But as I gazed into them, my heart leached.

I walked forward slowly. The man was staring at me in an unreadable expression. His deep blue eyes carried me off into a lullaby, taking me into a different life. I realized that I was all the way to him. I touched his face, shocked at the familiarity of it, trying to think of what it was.

"Oh my God," he said, touching my face in return. "You look just like mom."

I gasped at him, a name yelling inside of me, trying to escape. Everyone else around me faded, as I melted into my own world, much like my passed out state. My heart was beating too fast, and my head was to light. I couldn't think straight, but the name screamed louder and louder.

"Danny?" I whispered hoarsely.

"Hey Tigger." He whispered back, only for me. I sunk to my knees, shaking, as painful thoughts and demons whispered around me.

I screamed once more, before the world shimmered away. I vaguely thought, away from my problems, that this fainting thing would have to stop.

**This chapter is an into to what's in store. The man came, and I'm hoping to put the history behind the too in the next chapter. But I don't want it to seem rushed.**

**Please comment, they always put a smile to my face, and ideas in my mind. Again, any suggestions are welcomed, because the story is in the beginning stages. **

**PS: Thank you ****XXmelissaXXRayanne**** thank you for your update!**


	4. NOTE

**Ha-ha, quick oops moment. I looked over the story and realized I made a mistake ( Could have made other's:) but In chapter one, I referred to Danny with brown eyes. But in chapter 3 I gave him blue! Sorry about that! For the record, I will continue with the blue eyes. Sorry about the confusion**

**And the short chapter:)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Danny's POV**

I had been avoiding coming back. I have always wanted to, but the opportunity never properly presented itself. I admit, I was nervous. When I found out about her 'parents,' I knew the time had come. She had no one now, and I wanted to be there for her. But I also saw the con's in that situation. If I came, she would most likely remember, and she would experience pain beyond what she knew. And she was already in heartache.

But she needed to know. She needed to know what had happened. She had 7 years missing out of her life, only to be filled in with stories, lies told about her. But she was not their daughter. They treated her better that I had hoped. And they were good to her. But they were not her real family. And it was time she knew it.

I went to Morganville, town of vampires. When I found this out, I almost laughed. Claire couldn't keep herself safe if her life depended on it. It took me most of the day, and running in to many helpful southerners, but I finally found where she was staying.

I'll give her this. It was a nice place.

The house was huge, much better than any place she had ever had. Not as nice as the place I wanted her to stay, but it was definitely a good place to be. I built of courage the whole way walking up. I wondered who she looked like. If she looked like mom. I hope she didn't look like Dad. I hope she had nothing like Dad. Nothing that was similar or familiar to him. I wanted that memory to be permanently wiped away from her memory.

I knocked on the door quickly, before I would let myself chicken out. But instead of a short sweet angel I remembered, a gothic, enthusiastic girl came instead.

"May I help you?" she said, smiling at me. I looked warily at her, doubt flashing through my head.

"…Claire?"

"Nope." She said with a smile. "I'm Eve." I smiled warmly at her. I had no problem with her, but I had not pictured such an extreme version of Claire. My imagination grew.

"Oh, ok." I said. "Um, is Claire Be- um Claire Danvers here?"

She looked at me curiously. "Yea. Claire's lived here for about a year and a half. You a relative?"

"Something like that." I mumbled, sticking my hands in my pocket. "Do you know when she's going to be here?"

She stared at me longer. "You're not a relative?"

I sighed. For the sake of the argument, I wasn't a relative that she knew about. She wouldn't remember me, though I'm not sure how long that will last.

"You know she has a boyfriend right?" she said skeptically. I jolted in shock. A boyfriend? What?

She studied me again. "Naw, he isn't her type. Though his is really cute" She thought out loud. "Ok, I'll tell her you came by… What's your name?"

"Danny."

Suddenly she stood up straight as if she remembered something. "Where are my manners? I'm sorry, it's just you look a lot like Claire, and I'm getting a little side tracked. Would you like to come in?" she asked, opening the door wider.

I realized the mistake coming like this. It would only cause problems. I knew that she'd need to be eased into this, and not right after the funeral of her… parents. So I shook my head, no, and took a step back.

"No thanks. I'm fine. Maybe I'll come back later, like tomorrow or something." I lied. A boy suddenly flashed behind her. From his pale skin, and bright eyes I could tell he was a vampire. I looked at Eve in fear and shock, calculating the probability of me saving her, until I saw her lean over and kiss the vampire on the cheek.

The reaction was shocking. I didn't know why or how these two stayed in a relationship. But they were definitely in one. Eve smiled down at me and pulled the vampire out from behind her. Since it was a cloudy day, the vampire was able to come to the door with ease, with no fear of being burnt.

"This is my boyfriend, Michael." Eve said, pushing him forward. He reached out and grabbed my hand. I shook his hand, wary, but compliant.  
"Hello. I'm sorry Eve; I'll just come back some other time."

"Are you sure? Why don't you just come in, and we can wait until she gets back!" Eve cried.

I shrugged, and denied her. Thanking her again, I hurried away to town square, trying not to get caught in the dark. I looked around, trying to find a good place to say. Seeing a small café like restaurant, I walked in, hoping for some directions.

You could tell that this was a college bound town. The place was almost filled with teenagers, laughing and studying. I shuffled to a table not knowing where else to go. As I waited, I thought of the idea of moving far away from this place was upsetting. I guess I'm not really _living_ here per se, just staying here. But I want to be here, with Claire. Sighing dejectedly, I glanced up at the waiter.

It was a man, tall and had an intimidating but friendly vibe. He stared at me curiously. I wondered if it would be like this for everyone. The curiosity of Claire grew larger.

"What would you like?" he said with a friendly smile. As I got a better look at him, I noticed he was a vampire. Alarming really, of the amount of them here.

"Coffee." I said. "Just black coffee."

"Long day?" he said looking at me.

I nodded, with a small chuckle. "Long year."

He laughed and walked to the back. I closed my eyes, and felt a memory lap at the corner of my subconscious. Fighting against it, I focused on the menu. But it grew bigger and bigger, until I gave in.

_"Danny!" a little girl called. I turned around and saw it was Claire. I smiled at her, and grabbed her hand. We were at the park. _

_ "We better go home Tigger, or dad be mad."_

_ She frowned. "I don't like going home," she said with her six year old lisp. "Can't we just go to school?"_

_ "School ended two hours ago." I told her as we walked along the sidewalk. "Anyways it's Saturday."_

_ She grew quiet and thoughtful. Not wanting to disturb the peace, I started to think about next year, when I'd be going to 6__th__ grade. I'd be 11 next week, and going to middle school was exiting. Though I was no genius like my little sister._

_ "Hey Danny?" she asked._

_ "What?"_

_ "Why did Mommy and Daddy get into that fight last night?"_

_ I flinched. Mom and Dad had been arguing all night, ending up with swinging fists on dad's part. Dad had been working late at the lab again and had missed Allison's piano recital. Not that he cared anyway. Dad doesn't like kids._

_ "They just had a misunderstanding is all." I muttered. _

_ "Then why did Daddy hit Mommy?" she asked again. "Mommy always tells us not to hit."_

_ "That's right Claire. But Dad promised not to hit us anymore, remember? So maybe he'll realize that hitting mom is a bad thing too, and won't do it anymore. But we just have to stick together, ok?"_

_ She nodded, returning to her thoughtful mood. We had walked to out road, which was out by itself. We had no neighbors. Claire didn't like that. She didn't like the idea of having no one near us. But dad insisted on being alone. So we moved here, even if it was a tiny, broken down house. _

_ As we walked to the front door, I saw my mother outside sweeping the porch. She was beautiful. Her long brown hair had turned dull recently, but she was thin and graceful. People always commented on how beautiful she had become. I overheard the teller at the bank tell a man that she looked like an angel. _

_ She turned around and saw us. Her worn, but beautiful face broke out into a smile, something that took years off of her face. But an ugly bruise covered one of her deep blue eyes. Claire ran up and jumped in her arms, not letting go. The resemblance between Claire and Mom was scary. It always had been. Me and Allie, we looked like dad. Claire had the same face, bone structure, same everything. But her eyes were my dads. That deep brown. But while dad showed anger and evil, Claire's eyes showed innocence._

_ Mom leaned foreword and kissed me on the forehead. "How was school?"_

_ "Good, but long."_

_ Mom laughed, holding Claire and I walked inside. On the couch was Allie. Allie was… different. Our dad was a scary guy. He had always been. But we all had things that _

_we got from him. I had his looks. Me and him, we look alike…too much alike. Claire, she had his eyes, and his brains. Dad was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them. _

_ But Allie…Allie had his spirit. His attitude. They were both mean, and hateful. They got along best, though they fought all the time. It was one of there favorite things. Allie was notorious for being called out of school. She had been expelled twice, and was the bully. She was in 7__th__ grade, but she had been held back. One thing she didn't get from my dad was his smarts. _

_ She glanced up at me, glaring. It was really just a stare, but her outlook was mean. "About time you got here. Dad is pissed off that you two are late."_

_ "Allison Beatrice Bentley, we do not say words like that." My mom said walking in the door. Allie rolled her eyes. _

_ "Hi, Allie!" Claire called, grinning. Allison awarded her a rare smile. It was odd. Allie was in everyway my dad, and Claire was in every way my mom. But they got along. Claire and I got along better, but Allie had a soft spot for her._

_ "Hey squirt." Claire squirmed down from my mothers arms and ran over to Allie. _

_ "Hey Allie, I got to hold the pet iguana today at school! His name is Fredrick. He makes me laugh when he crawls on my arms, and tickles me. Emily, at my school, got to take him home last weekend so he would be taken care of. I wanted to take care of him, but daddy said no. I think his name should be something different. Fredrick's a stupid name."_

_ "Elizabeth…" my mother said warningly. Claire's real name is Elizabeth Clarice Bentley. But Claire fit her better. "We don't say ugly things like that. Stupid is a rude word."_

_ "Fredrick is a stupid name mom." Allie said, placing Claire in her lap. My mother sighed. _

_ "Is dad home?" I asked falling onto the chair. _

_ "He's on his way home; he had to grab something at the lab." My mom said. "And don't fall on the furniture like that. Our stuff is bad enough…"_

_ "Toss me the remote." Allie said, glancing at me. I held the remote, and raised an eyebrow._

_ "Hand me the remote before I beat the crap out of you." I didn't move._

_ "Allison!" my mother said in shock._

_ Allie grumbled. "…Please hand me the remote."_

_ I smiled and tossed her the remote where she had to work the reach it. "Freak." She muttered. _

_ My mother shook her head in exasperation, while she sorted through the laundry. Suddenly the door slammed open, and we all stared. Dad was home. _

"Coffee black right?" a waitress asked me, as she set the mug down on the table.

"Perfect." I replied with a smile.

The girl coyly twirled her hair around her finger. "Will that be all? Do you need

anything? Anything at all?" I understood the double meaning in her words. But I shook my head.

"No thanks. I'm just passing through." She nodded, and walked to another table. But as it turned out, I was there longer than a day or two. I didn't have the guts to go up to her house again. The memories were brutal. But I stayed around, waiting to pluck up the courage. But when I did come to the house, it wasn't in the way I wanted.

**I know the story isn't going real fast. I'm trying to figure out how everything is fitting together. But I have some sort of idea. IDEAS WELCOMED!**

**Sorry for not updating in so long. It's midterms this week, and I've been babysitting all weekend. But I'm going to try to update soon!**

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! THEY MADE MY DAY! I would love another!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Michael's POV**

When Claire dropped to the floor like that, it was like a replay a few weeks ago. But as her body was completely still, her face was twitching in pain. I don't know who ran faster though, Danny or Shane.

"Claire?" Shane said clutching her to his body. "What's happening to her?"

Danny shook his head as he squirmed uncomfortably in the awkward position he was in. "She's remembering." He whispered.

"Remembering what exactly?" I asked agitated.

"…Everything."

Oliver picked up Danny and pushed him to the couch. Amelie walked calmly to Danny. "Oliver, you do not need to be so rough with the boy. He may be innocent. Daniel, what is your name? Your full name…"

Danny took a deep breath and glared at the floor. "Daniel Abraham Bentley."

"And Daniel, how do you know Claire Danvers?"

Danny sighed and stared at the floor stubbornly. "It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"…Claire is my sister."

The whole room stared at him in shock. The shocked faces stared at a uncomfortable Danny. "You're lying." Shane said harshly. "Claire didn't have any siblings."

"Not with her other parents she didn't."

"Claire would have told us if she had a brother." Eve piped up. "We've known Claire for two years."

"Like I said, she didn't remember. Shane, listen to me." Danny insisted.

"I don't know you." Shane said in a shocked voice.

"No one remembers anything do they?" Danny muttered under his breath. "How much do you remember of Georgetown?"

I looked at Shane in shock. "Isn't that the place you went to after Alyssa died?" Shane nodded and stared hard at Danny.

"I remember you. You're that guy at that park. We hung out a couple of times."

Danny nodded. "Though when I saw you, the last thing I thought of was you dating my sister."

"Wait a second." Eve said clutching her temples. "Let's do one thing at a time. Claire is your sister?" Danny nodded. "Why aren't yall together right now?"

Danny grew quiet. "That's a question you'll have to ask her."

We all stared at Danny. In truth, it wasn't so surprising if you really looked at them. Same features gave it away.

"Ok," I said. "I'll bite you. But if she wakes us and tells us something different…"

Amelie stared. "Young man, this is a wild story. I hope, for your sake that she is

your sister. If she is not, then you will unfortunately have to pay the consequences." Danny nodded and rubbed the circulation on his hands after Oliver came and cut the rope. "Now, you will stay here until further notice. Do not leave this house without my permeation. Even then you must leave with some sort of an escort." Amelie's phone rang. She sighed and turned back to me. "Michael, I have little time for things like this right now. But this may be of grave importance if things are what I think they are. Please inform me the moment she awakens."

I nodded. The moment Amelie the quiet in the house was deadly quiet. I could hear the ring of every step.

"God damn it!" Shane said in frustration, as he bent back over Claire. "Why in God's name is this taking so long? My memory didn't come back like this at all."

"Claire didn't loose her memory like you did." Danny said, rising from the bent over position he was in. "Look."

We watched warily to see what he did. When he got near Claire, the room grew tense. "When she was 7, she hit her head. Just a case of amnesia. I broke into the hospital a couple of years back. The doctor notes said that it was really slight. Like the smallest thing may set her back. But she never came back with us, so she never needed to remember." He whispered and he picked up Claire's head.

"What are you doing?" Shane asked.

"Showing you." He said moving her head gently to the side. Moving her hair, he showed a small patch, a scar. "It looked a lot different when there was blood streaming down her face though."

The room was tense. Everyone suspiciously stared at Danny, who had moved up to Claire. "Can you prove it?" I whispered in the hauntingly silent house.

He started to shake his head. But then he shot up straight. "Maybe I can." He leaned over and grabbed Claire's computer. Somehow he broke through all password protection and logged on to some account. "One second," he said as he wized around on the computer. He clicked on something, and the printer went off.

Jumping up, he picked up the printed sheet of paper. "We took this picture on my 11th birthday. Claire was almost seven. It was about six weeks before she disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

He ignored me, and passed the photo to me. Even in black and white, there was no doubt it was Claire. She looked just the same, but more mature. Still small, mousy, and shy. She was wearing a yellow sundress, her hair curly. Next to her holding her hand, was none other than Danny. He was smaller, less muscular. He looked young, and innocent. But I saw a shadow of worry across his features.

"Is this your mother?" Eve whispered, as she pointed to the woman putting her hand on Claire's shoulder.

"Yea. She's the mirror image of Claire really. I had that picture saved before all of the things were burnt. But that's as much evidence I can give you before she wakes up. Claire is the youngest.

"Who's that girl?" Shane asked, still sitting on the couch, holding Claire's hand.

"Her?" Danny said, pointing to an ugly looking girl, frowning at the picture. "That's my other sister. She's the oldest. Allison." He paused. "And that's dad."

The way he said it brought chills to my spine. He pointed to a tall, emotionless man standing with his arm wrapped around Claire's mother. He had a proud, and handsome face. But I could tell, even from the picture, that he wasn't a good guy. Something was the matter with him. But he looked a lot like Danny. Not identical like Claire and her mother, but very similar.

"Ok, I believe you." I told him, handing the picture to Shane to get a better look at. "But I still don't get something. A couple of things actually. One, why didn't Claire remember you for the past 8 and a half years?"

"Like I said, I'd rather her be awake and tell you herself." He whispered. "Though, she might not even want to tell you."

A cold feeling splashed through my body. "Why did Claire pass out like that?"

"Amnisia. Like I said. A couple of years back, I had a lead on Claire. I was 20, and out of school. I pretended like I had broken something, and when the doctor left, I found her file. Claire Marie Danvers. My mom's name was Marie. Funny how she kept it."

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Eve asked.

"Naw, she's ok. She's a tough cookie." Danny said, running his fingers through his hair.

Eve looked up at me, her eyes filled with tears. I wrapped my arms around her shaking figure. She was freaking out. I felt pain. Eve and Claire had become insperable since Claire's parents had died.

"Michael…" Eve choked out. "What do we do?"

"The only thing we can do. We wait."

**I am VERY sorry about the author's note thing. Like I said, this is my first time doing a fan fiction, and I forgot about that in the rules. I've been kinda free writing in my free time. In fact, I'm supposed to be studying for my midterms right now! I know that this is a really short chapter, but the next one should be extra long. Thank you ALL for the reviews. The friendly support and constructive critism really help, and motivate me to keep going. Like I said, I LOVE reviews! Tell me what you think, and how you think this should go :) I have an idea of where this is heading, but I want this to be good. So feel free to put in your opinion.**

**PS: Thinking about putting the reason behind everything in the next chapter. If you think I should wait tell me! I have an idea, and it would take awhile. But like I said, I hope to be updating a lot, especially now that Christmas Break is almost here. So "Review" away!**

**PPS: Sorry about all the mistakes! Sometimes I don't even realize that I messed up until the 3****rd**** or 4****th**** run through.**


	7. Chapter 6

**I am so sorry on the wait! My grandmother just passed away this past week, not to mention New Years and Christmas. I apologize. This chapter is mainly going to consist on Claire's childhood. Any ideas on the next few chapters? **

**Claire's POV**

_I opened my eyes to bright sunshine. I was half asleep under a willow tree. The sun was seeping through the trees, and the only sound I could hear was the soft rustle of leaves as the wind blew. _

_"Claire!" I heard a voice call me. The voice was loud and frantic. I stood up to see a boy running towards me. "There you are!" he called, sighing in relief. "We couldn't find you. Come on, Dad's going to be home in a couple of minutes." _

_He paused, looking at my face. He cupped my face in his hand, right above my large black eye. Frowning he grabbed my hand, and he and I rushed back to the house. I couldn't find Allie anywhere. _

"_When's Momma going to be home?" I whispered, walking into the abandoned living room. Allie was asleep on the couch. When she saw my face, she got mad. Pacing for an hour, she gave up, knowing she couldn't win the fight. She crashed an hour ago.  
"I think sometime later today."_

_A tear rolled down my cheek, and I cried out in a whisper, "I want Momma!"_

_He looked over at me in shock and horror. Clutching my arm, he hurried me into the back room. Quickly shutting the door, he held me close as I started to sob. The built up emotions that I had pushed back until we had reached the house had broken out into a flood. My whole body shook with the wrenching sobs._

"_Shhhh," he whispered. "It's gonna be ok. Mom's coming home right now. She'll be home any second. And when she is home, we'll be safe. All of us. Nothing can hurt us when Mom's here."_

_My sobs slowly subsided. I nodded, as he laid me on the bed. "Why did she go?" _

_He stopped at the doorway, turning around. "She had to go to a funeral."_

"_Who died?"_

"_Her mother."_

"_Why don't we know our Grandma?" I asked, sitting up from the bed. _

_He sighed deeply. "Dad…" he started. Then he shook his head. "I don't know Tigger… I really don't know."_

_I nodded, and laid back down. I closed my eyes and drifted into a deep sleep._

_I wolk up to screaming. Shouting from the other room sent chills up my spine. I could identify both of those voices. _

"_How dare you! She's a baby!"_

"_She is my daughter too! If I choose to punish her in a way you don't like it…"_

"_Don't like it? You beat her!" a shrill voice called. _

_I pulled myself out of bed, sneaking to the door. "I wouldn't do that." A voice whispered. Allie was looking sadly at me. "He'll get pissed."_

_Ignoring her, I crept to the door to get a better look. SMACK! Flinching from the_

_sound in the other room, I peaked at the scene before me. Mom was on the floor, her face in her hands. She laid there in pain, her body shaking with sobs. _

"_Don't talk to me like that. I choose to discipline our children because you haven't a day in your life.!"_

_Choking back a sob, she spat at my father, "Why would they need me to, you already have discipline down to a pat." Another slap rang through the house. I couldn't take it. I open the door, shrugging off my sisters restraining hand. _

_Putting myself in front of my mother, I glared up at my father. I'll never forget the look he gave me. It was the first time I had ever seen my father surprised. He was drunk tonight, as he was last night. _

_I was pushed aside by my mother, as she pulled me all the way back to my room. Tears still fell down her cheeks in streams. "Baby, stay here." _

_She was gone for awhile. Danny got up at one point, and came over to put some Neosporin on my bruise. Even after they went to sleep, I waited for my mother. I knew she'd be back. And she was._

_She came in the room about 4 am. She tried to be quiet, but the second I heard the door squeak, I sat up on my bed. She came and sat with me, holding my hand. _

_"Baby, I am so sorry." She whispered, running her hands through my hair. I leaned my head on her chest, comforted by the sound of her heart._

_"Its ok mommy."_

_"No its not. I'm supposed to protect you and your brother and sister. I'm your mother." She said, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs._

_"Shhhh Mommy, its ok."_

_She looked up at me. "Your so brave…" she took a breath, ceasing her crying and a determined look crossed her face. "That's it. Were getting out of here. You, your brother and sister, and I are all getting away from this place." She stood up, walking over to Allie. Shaking her awake, she instructed me to get my brother._

"_Danny," I whispered. "Wake up, were leaving."_

"_Huh?" he muttered sleepily._

"_Pack your stuff baby." Momma said, looking up from Allie's bed. "Were getting away from your father."_

"_Mom." Allie whispered. "That's not a good idea."_

_My mother stepped in front of Allie. "I haven't kept my promises to you. When you were a baby, I told myself that I would keep you safe and do everything I could for you." She said, a single tear escaping the corner of her eye. "I haven't kept either one of those rules. And tonight proved to me that your father wont change. No matter how much _

_I love him, and I want him to, the only person that can make your father change is himself and God. And God won't make us do anything. We have free will. I've been waiting, hoping to find the man I lost. But he has left us, and it's time for us to be free."_

_Allie grew quiet. "Ok." She whispered, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm scared."_

"_I know. We just have to stick together. We'll be free. I just know it." She said, fondly touching my sisters cheek. Danny and I gaped at the in astonishment. My mother and sister had a strong love/ hate relationship. But they were getting along. My sister was saying nothing ugly to my mother, and they were fine. "We will go far away, and we'll be happy."_

_I wish she had been right._

My head was in a fog. I couldn't tell where I was, or who I was, or how old I was. I heard a distant voice pull me to the surface. "Claire, come on. Wake up."

That's right. My name is Claire. Claire Danvers….. Or was it Claire Bentley? I couldn't be sure. Was I still that little girl?

"She's waking up!" I another voice called, distinctively female. Was that my sister? I had a sister named Allie. Or was it my mother. Which mother was it? I had two. Or was it one?

I moaned as the questions and realities clashed with each other. I frowned and tried to block out the voices. Sleep seemed nice. So I welcomed unconsciousness as more memories flooded my eyes and I went back under.

_That night, our mother helped us pack out things. We had meant to leave that night, but when our father left for work around, we were going to leave and stay with a friend of out mother's._

"_What's your friend like?" Danny asked._

"_She's an old friend that I went to school with." Our mother said, cleaning a few things around the house._

"_What friend?" My father said, walking into the kitchen. I stopped chewing my PB&J sandwich. Slowly setting it down, I glanced at my mother. My mother doesn't believe in lying. So you can imagine our shock when she looked up at my father, emotionless, and said "Just a girl I knew along time ago. The kids found an old yearbook of mine. From Middle School._

"_You don't have any friends." He said matter-oh-factly. "You haven't talked to_

_anyone in months, let alone see any old friends."_

_She wasn't deterred. "I was thinking about seeing an old friend. She just moved in town a few days ago, and I was thinking about sending her, I don't know, a cake or something."_

"_No." he said firmly. "I don't want anyone to go anywhere. She can cook her own food, she doesn't need any help from us." He told my mother, pushing his black, curly locks from his face. My father was, in his own way, handsome. His jaw was strong, and he had deep brown eyes. His was buff, built up from when he was a teenager. _

_My mother and father met when she was 16. She said that it was love at first sight. My father was in his freshmen year of collage, studying advanced physics, and planning to get a degree in Biology. But when my mother got pregnate with my oldest sister in collage, she dropped out. He never got his degree, something that my brother says he's bitter from. His brown eyes glanced at me, before setting his eyes on my mother._

" _I want this house spotless when I get home." He looked over at the window, which was cracked. "This place is a shithole."_

_I gaped at him in shock. Looking up to see my mother glare at him, she look over at us. "Go get ready for school kids. The bus will be here soon."_

_On the way out, I heard arguing from my parents. The last thing I heard was "I'll be home late tonight, so don't wait up for me." That was the last time I heard my father speak calmly._

"Claire!" a voice yelled in my ear. My heart jolted as I opened my eyes. The room was dim. I was in my living room. I saw deep blue eyes.

"Shane." I croaked. He sighed in relief, holding me tight to his chest. Tears poured, sobs wrenching my body.

"What is it?" he asked frantically, searching for blood somewhere on my body. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. Because I wasn't. I was hurting, but not physically. He picked me up, my legs wrapped around his waist. "I'm gonna take her to her room, let her get some sleep."

If anyone had an objection, it was silenced as another wave of tears shook my body. As Shane walked up the stairs, I glanced at Danny over his shoulder. He was staring at me sadly. He mouthed 'I'm sorry' before Shane moved us from sight. He climbed the stairs, rubbing my back in small circles. 'I'm sorrys', mixed with 'I love you's' fell in a steady rhythm, as we walked into my room.

Setting me down, he went back to the door. At first I thought he was leaving, which cause another hitch in my breath, until he shut the door and started walking back to me. He picked me up, before setting us both down on the bed, my head pressed into his chest. The images were horrifying. I shook with fear and terror as the blackness covered my eyes. I relived my nightmare.

**:) yes I feel bad about leaving it here. But I was running on little energy when I wrote this. I know, I know this was supposed to be "Extra" long, but I've been out of state like 3 times this month. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/New Year! I am feeling imaginative, so I'll probably skip sleeping tonight to write a little more! Expect another sometime this week. **

**PS: I realized that I made a mistake (One of many). Claire is 17, almost 18. I hadn't realized that I missed all of that. Danny's gotta be about 21 or 22. I haven't decided the birthday's yet. **

_**Please review! Thank you all who have!**_


	8. Chapter 7

**So I'm not dead! I could write a list of excuses, a mile long. But I have simply put off sitting down and devoting some real time into this story. I am ashamed, because I know that I could have had time.**

**But in my small defense, I am not exactly sure where I want to go with this story. Its kinda floating in mid air, depending on what I daydream in math class. But I am trying to write more. I have been in deep, high school devotion period, dealing with some drama (Gah!) but I am crawling back on the ball. So here is the next chapter, FINNALLY saying what has happened. **

**Thank you all who has written these beautiful reviews. When I see them, it makes me hungry for more, and though I'm not begging I do love them:) This chapter is extra long, because not only do I feel bad about disappearing for a month, but I am giving the final information of Claire's dark day, and here it is. **

**PS: NOW the dark stuff comes in. Sorry about before, sometimes I set out to write more than I actually am able to. If you would like to skip, or even stop reading I understand. But I promise to keep things to a minimum, and not put in gory details.**

**Here it is weather you have all been waiting for it or not, here it is!**

**Claire's POV**

Sleep was good. When I wolk up, I knew I had been there awhile. My body was heavy, and my eyes were sealed together with sleepy crap. I moaned, rubbing my eyes free. The colors were bright, taking me by surprise. I was in my room, in my bed. So I sighed contentedly and turned over to…

"There is a man in my bed." I thought hazily. I slowly sat up and noticed it was Shane.

"Shane?" I whispered, poking him in the side. A snore ripped through his body like a chainsaw, turning over and unconsciously holding me to him.

"Stay with me for a little bit." He muttered into my hair. I giggled, snuggling myself to him.

I didn't care if I was late for school today. It's been a long couple of weeks, what with my mom and dad dying. Not to mention this thing with my brother…

I shot straight up, smacking Shane in the nose. Shock and fear overtook my body as Shane rolled the opposite way in agony.

Reality seemed to come to Shane too. He paused as I took shallow, panicked breaths. Then he grabbed me and pulled me back down to lying position. I breathed against him, feeling his steady heart beat. It soothed me as I caught my breath.

"Claire?" Danny whispered after my breathing had gone to normal. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I did. I wanted to tell Shane about everything. But I didn't want to relive it. But the flashes came anyways, and now seemed as good as any time.

_It had been raining that night. I remember sitting on our porch, watching the drops of water fall into a puddle. _

"_Claire, do you have all your stuff packed?" Danny asked me, pulling our things in a pile. _

"_Hold on, I have to grab Rabbit." I told him, referring to my small stuffed rabbit that I had won at the carnival when I was four. I padded into my room, holding my backpack close to me. I had been so nervous. _

_My mother had her hair down, flowing in long, chocolate waves. She was flitting around in a ballerina like state, throwing our things in bags. "Alright, then I want you to get in the car. I don't want to take any chances tonight."_

_We had rushed home in a frenzy like state, leaving school an hour early. Mom was terrified, though she didn't want to tell us. Determined not to bring anyone else in our problems, she wanted to do this alone. _

_Allison was sitting with her bag, staring at the door like it had killed her cat. Her hands were pulled tight against her bag, and her ghostly face watched the door like her life depended on it. _

_Grabbing Rabbit, I went in the living room to sit next to Allie. We sat, watching Danny and Mom run around the house, trying to get the last of their things. Though I was wired, I unconsciously snuggled against Allison._

"_Elizabeth, go run and grab the brown bag, under the sink in your father's bathroom." She told me, already referring to her things as his. I ran quickly, rummaging around for the brown bag. It was in the very back, behind her old makeup bag. It was an ugly, leather bag, that had a deep red stain on the side. I opened it slightly; curious to what was inside, to see hundreds of dollars wrapped in a band. _

_I slid off my Little Bear backpack, and carefully placed it into the bag. Suddenly, I heard a bang in the living room. Breathing heavy, I slowly walked towards the sound. _

_My father was home._

_Walking in the room, I watched as my father slowly looked from each of his children, to the bags in our hands. Then, after taking a painfully long time doing so, I watched as he turned to my mother._

_I will never forget how she looked that night. Her hair was in long waves, reaching to her back, and her face turned up looking him straight in his eyes, unafraid. _

"_So, this is what happens huh?" he said, pacing the room slowly. I heard each thump of his boot, like the sound of a firecracker in the house. _

"_This is what I get for providing for you? You're just going to leave me, huh? Take my children?"_

"_Yes we are."_

_I looked up at my mother in shock, not expecting her to say anything. But my father didn't lash out. He simply continued to walk towards the table, which unfortunately was in my direct path. _

_Too afraid to move, I watched as he placed the bag in his hand on the table. He spoke as he searched for something in his bag._

"_I work every day. Every single day I go to work and I work hard. I use the very far reaches of my brain to make the scientific discoveries that I have made. I have found things that scientists around the world would kill for. Once I launch my discoveries into the world, I will be the greatest of them all."_

_He stopped looking through his bag. He looked up, straight into my eyes. "Claire, come here." I looked at him in horror. "Elizabeth, I want you to come to me right now." My knee's shook, and my heart stopped, but I slowly made my way to him._

"_Claire, I am going to tell you a secret, ok?" he whispered to me. I nodded my head, wary. I knew this part of my father wasn't real, but when he was calm as he was, my trust betrayed me._

"_I have found out, after years of studying and researching, a cure that may be a very important fact. I tell you this, because I know you can understand what I say, and will soon take the initiative to do something about my information. There are other creatures in our world, other that simply animals and humans. Other than any other kind of creature we know of."_

_I stared at him, wary of his next words. _

"_There are vampires in our world." Dead silence filled the house. Not a breath was taken. "I have encountered families that have dealt with them, and will seem unaware of what has happened to them. They can completely wipe memories, making people unaware of their presence. _

_I knew my father was a crazy man, but this assured me of the fact. He looked at my unbelieving face, and nodded._

"_6 months ago, I would have though I was insane too. But I encountered a young vampire, half starved, somehow out of its coven. She longed for a safe place, so I studied her, agreeing to keep her safe if I could run tests on her. She consented, staying at the lab where I kept her."_

"_Months I worked on her, realizing what I had found. And I stumbled upon a discovery that people will kill for." he leaned in, pressing his lips to my ear, giving me chills._

"_I know how to cure vampires. I know how to change them back."_

_I stared at him, afraid. I had no idea what he was saying, and he was frightening me. Seeing this, my mother acted on my fear._

"_Do not tell her lies Jonathan." My mother's voice rang out. He stood up quickly, venom in his voice. _

"_It's true! And I will show her when the time is right. I had to kill the girl, but now I know what to do-"_

"_You killed a woman?" my mother breathed._

"_She knew too much. My tracks won't be followed, I was careful. She was there for months, and no one even knew she existed. She was a rouge vampire, and had no one who trusted her."  
"You killed…" my mother trailed off, taking deep gasps of air. "You are not the man I married."_

_Dad sighed. Shaking his head, he stood up, patting me on the head. "And you're not the woman I thought I married. This whole pacifist shit is getting old Marie. I'm tired of you acting so defiant to me, and setting a bad example for my children."_

_He turned around, pointing to me. "Look at Claire. She is brimming with untapped intelligence that will never be fully reached unless I show her how. Learning in a mediocre school who will never push her, and going to a semi challenging college will never be able to tap into her vast knowledge."_

"_But you teach her to fear me, teach her to shy away from me. Her being afraid of me will help no one, and it will only hurt her."_

"_I teach her nothing but to keep herself safe." My mother said defiantly._

"_Oh come on Marie. That's a load of shit. She will grow up timid if you keep babying her. And you are always showing her this do good crap. She is my child too. And you're trying to take her away from me." Anger appeared on his face, as he turned around, back to his bag._

_He reached deep into his bag, holding something in his had. "You will not take them from me." He pulled out a handgun._

_I knew my father had a gun in the house. It wasn't a shocking discovery to see a gun. But to see a gun that my father was pointing, and it was pointing to my mother, twisted my heart._

_Me and my siblings gasped. Danny jumped up, as if to get between them but my mother waved him off._

"_Please Jonathan. Don't do this to the kids."_

"_The kids have got to toughen up." He said roughly, before pulling the trigger. Just like that._

_Just like that._

_The image of my mother will forever scar me. Things are a blur. How she looked, the amount of blood that coved the wound in her forehead. The screams of my sister, and brother. But I do remember what my father said next._

"_I will always love you, you stupid woman. But I can't afford to deal with you interfering anymore."_

_He turned to Allie and Danny. "I want you three to stay here, and I will be back in a minute. I have to go bury your mother. I'm sorry you three had to see that, but as soon as I finish, it will be like you never had a mother. Everything will be fine." He said as he lifted my mother's body. Walking out the front door, he turned back and looked at us. _

"_Stay here."_

_As soon as we heard his car pull out of the drive way, we ran. We ran fast. _

_The forest was literally outside of our house. Allison ran towards me, lifting me off of my feet, and sprinted out of the back door with Danny at her heels. She soon placed me on the ground, letting me run on my own feet._

_Panting, we sprinted through the woods, not looking back. It was harder, because we were all sobbing so hard, that it was hard for us to catch our breath._

_It soon became aware to Danny though, that we were lost. He came to a stop, sitting on a nearby rock, and started to bawl. Tears poured down his cheeks as sobs shook his body. _

_I turned over Allison, only to see her lean over and throw up, again and again. The world around me was fuzzy. I couldn't understand anything, except for the fact that I had to leave, because my mother was gone, and my father was going to kill us if we stayed._

_I jumped, when faintly, ever so faintly, I heard a scream. An angry cry from a man. Unable to help myself, I shrieked until Danny reached over and cupped my mouth, then taking my hand in his, running with me again. _

_Allison pulled herself up from behind us, trying to run. But a cold reality hit us.. My father could outrun any of us. _

_But Danny pulled us harder, and faster, until we could see a road from a distance. But the walkway became more uneven. We started to slip and slid down patches of mud. _

_That's how we lost Allie. _

_Grabbing my hand, trying to reach for me, Allie slipped on a patch of mud, falling into a deep ravine. Her hand partially tied to mine, I slipped too, until Danny grabbed my hand. But I smacked the back of my head hard on a rock. _

_A moan of agony escaped my lips as Danny lifted me up. Laying me down, he leaned over to check on Allie. _

"_Go." I heard her whisper. "Take Claire and go. Get her safe, and I'll find you two together somewhere safe. I'll find you."_

"_I'm sorry." Danny whispered back. I wanted Allie, but I couldn't move. My head hurt too badly. But I cried for her anyways._

"_Shhhh," Danny whispered to me, leaning down to pick me up. I held onto him, my eyes growing heavy. _

_BAM!_

_A shot rang through the woods, as Danny fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Over his shoulder, I watched as my father struggled through the brush that separated us. Danny had been hit on the side of his waist, barely clipping him. But the damage was done. Blood poured, staining his shirt._

_He pushed me to the side, not landing on me. _

"_Don't you run from me boy!" my father screamed._

"_Run!" Danny whispered to me. "I'll find you, I promise. Now go, find a ride, and get somewhere safe."_

_My world was in a blur. Everything was hazy, and dark. But somehow I followed his directions. _

"_I love you." I whispered._

"_Me too."_

"_How will you find me Danny?"_

"_I'll look for you! I promise!" He choked out in agony. "Now go!"_

_So I ran._

_All the way to the road._

_I reached the road._

_Running down the black pavement._

_Keep running._

_Ignore all sounds._

_Run, and run and run._

_Ignore everything. _

_Run miles._

_Run until you see headlights._

_Screeching tiers._

_Opening car doors._

_Voices._

"_Oh my God."_

"_It's a little girl."_

_I opened my eyes to see an older couple staring down at me in horror. They were probably in there late 30's, or early 40's. But they ran to me quickly, catching me right before I fell to the ground. I remember their tender touches, and there gentle hands._

"_Look at her head." _

"_She needs to go to the emergency room."_

"_Les, what happened to her?"_

"_I'm not sure. Bring her in the car, hurry."_

_I vaguely remember being brought into an expensive car. I love the smell of a new car. I felt warmth cover me, and my soaking form. A cloth also covered my body, though she kept it away from my head._

_I was in the arms of a pretty woman. She looked down at me with pity, and if I read it correctly, affection. Some amazing form of motherly affection._

"_Are you alright sweet heart?"_

_I grumbled something._

"_What's your name?"_

_What's my name? I have a name… My name is…. Allison. No, Marie. No, it's not Danny._

"_Claire." I whimpered. Pictures filled my eyes, until I blacked out. _

_**I understand that it all runs together. It is VERY late, and I had the idea in my hand, though it may be a little sloppy. Please forgive any errors I made in typing, or such. Claire doesn't remember EVERYTHING. She was just a child with this happened, not to mention the graphic things she experienced.**_

_**This entire chapter was devoted to this memory, so I will post more normal behavior in this story. I know it seems depressing, but if you want it, I'll add lighter things in it.**_

_**I didn't thing I went into deep detail about the serious injuries, or graphic parts, and I'm sorry for anyone who didn't like them. But it happened to them, and I didn't think that I would be fair for me to put a couple of word in there describing this event. It was much bigger than that. It changed their lives.**_

_**For those of you who didn't realize it, the couples at the end are Claire's other parents. I looked everywhere for there names, but I couldn't find them. All I could find was Les. Bah.**_

_**Thank you ALL for you amazing comments and I appreciate every last one of them. They really do make my day.**_

_**For those who have constructive criticism, or have ideas, please share. They are welcome.**_


	9. Chapter 8

**Forgive and Forget? I hope so, because I know it's been awhile my friends. But, like last time, it's late, so you might encounter a couple of mistakes. Don't worry:) This chapter's kinda here to slow things down. Things have been going really fast, and I need a bit of in between time. But don't worry, it will start speeding up again soon!**

**Claire's POV **

There is an expression that my mother told me when I was a little girl. It was my first day of 4th grade, and constantly asking questions was a weak suit of mine. I needed information. I needed to know what everything meant.

But one day I learned a little two much for the sheltered girl I was. Learning where babies came from and the graphic images that were implanted into my subconscious scarred me for days. Finally my mother found out the interesting lesson I learned. But instead of freaking out, like I expected her two, or even to give me a long talk with my father, she patted my head, made things simple.

Knowing the truth was easier, and simple. No nonsense, and I was able to get past the messy details. Facts. That was what I used to get me through difficult times in grade school. I'll never forget when she told me "Knowledge is power, but ignorance is bliss."

As enlightened as I was when I was a child, I was sheltered. I knew what was textbook, and I never was street smart. But when I heard this, It took a new meaning to knowledge.

So you can imagine the irony, that my mother's words rang in my ears at 7:30 in the morning. The room was dim, the light on the opposite end of the house. My curtains were drawn, and I could see the light dance around in unexpected places. But I ignored the light, and focused on the comfort of my bed. I snuggled into Shane's body.

"Hmmmm." He murmured.

"What?"

"I like this."

I smiled. "Me too." But my bubbly feeling was fading, as the pictures flashed across my mind. My breathing became labored as I sat straight up in bed, and ignored the grunt from Shane.

"Claire?" he asked. But he sat up straight, so I assumed he remembered. I focused on something, anything else. I watched the way the light flitted across the room, across my bookshelf, spilling over my clothes, fleeting across the horrified expression on Shane's face.

The look on Shane's face was priceless. Not in a funny way, but a, I've never seen this look in my life' priceless. He looked so unbelievably shocked, that it eased the cacaos in my body.

"Claire?" he whispered, staring at me. We hadn't moved since the initial morning wakeup call about fifteen minutes ago.

"Shane." I moaned, placing my head in my hands. "I don't know what to do."

He moved over closer to me, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "Shhhh, its ok."

I hadn't realized that I was crying. "What am I supposed to tell Danny?" I asked hysterically. "Sorry I forgot about you, how's life been?"

"Well-"

"Oh my God, what if he's mad at me?" I asked in horror. "I've been sitting around in Morganville for the past 2 years-"

"Morganville isn't exactly a walk in the park!" he said reassuringly.

"But I'm sure raising yourself from the age of 14 is a bit harder than dealing with the occasional vampire!"

"Claire, think clearly about what you just said, and then change the ending. I would rather live homeless, than not being able to walk down the streets in fear."

"But he's my brother!" I whispered brokenly.

"I know babe…I'm so sorry."

We spent the entire morning in that room. I cried some more, as he held me tight. Sometimes we just stayed quiet, listening to each other breath. The sun came up soon, blaring through the thin blinds in my room.

"Hey Shane?" I whispered.

"Yea?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For just being here… being here when I needed someone."

"I love you Claire. No matter what happens, I always want to be here, making sure your ok. That's what we do. We help each other out, listen to problems, and even if there's nothing you can do, just be, I don't know, there. Just be there."

"This may sound super corny, but I'm really lucky I got you."

"Yea I know."

I raised an eyebrow at him in amusement.

"I mean, yea I know that sounds cheesy."

"Of course."

I sighed. "We probably need to go downstairs, don't we?"

"Naw. I could call in room service, and we could crash in here all day. Watch some movies, eat some popcorn, be all mushy with each other."

I giggled. "Though that sounds amazing, there are a few flaws to that plan."

"And they are?"

"One, I have a brother I haven't seen in 10 years downstairs, waiting for me."

He leaned forward and kissed my neck, following my jaw. If he kept doing this, I would be doing a lot more than cuddling. Think Claire, think!

"Is that all you got? Major emotional trauma seems like a pretty weak excuse for ditching me." He teased. "I think you just don't want to hang out with me."

"Well the other thing might sway your opinion."

"And that is?"

"Well if Michael comes up here to play room service, he will play big brother, and that could ruin the mood." I whispered, feeling his body pressed up against mine. "And if eve comes up here, she may wear the maid costume that Michael got her to wear for role play."

It was mean, I know. For the record, Eve doesn't have a maid costume, thank God. And Shane knew that also. But that didn't stop him from bolting straight up, with a look of horror on his face.

He glared at me. "That was mean."

"It worked, didn't it?" I giggled.

"Yes, believe me, it worked. Ugh…" he shuddered.

"Well I want to be here too much, and if I stay up here, then I'll never go down."

"So you want to stay up here?"

I smiled at his seductive smile. "Come on Casa Nova, let's go. I'm going to need your help to break the tension."

He stood up, towing me with him by grabbing my hand.

"Ok."

****

**Danny's POV**

Waking up wasn't too fun. But it's better than sleeping. But waking up to a quiet, nice, peaceful house, is almost alarming.

The first thing I noticed when I got up was the couch. Whoever decorated this house had expensive taste. It was obviously a lazy couch, but just _looked_ expensive.

I sat up, running my hands through my hair, noticing the rising sun out of the window. Sighing, I stood up, shuffling to the kitchen.

On the counter, I found a coffee cup, and a post-it note stuck to it. It read,

Dear Danny,

Sorry no one's here… well except for Claire and Shane upstairs. But Shane sleeps in, and if Claire's with him, they might not be up for awhile. I left around 6:00 for work, and Michael might not be up till later. He fell asleep during the night, and so his schedule is all off.

Help yourself to some coffee, and make yourself at home. My shift will be over at 11:00, so I'll see you then,

Eve

I smiled down at the note. I liked Eve. Not in a '_like_,' like way, but it was a good friend like. She seemed cool with me being here. So I took her advice, and made myself a cup of coffee, sitting down on one of the chairs.

It was so peaceful here. I loved mornings. Everything was clean, and untainted by people. I watched the sun come up, listening to the clock tick. By 10:00, I started to become restless.

I stood up and stretched before washing out my coffee cup. Suddenly my curiosity got the best of me.

I tiptoed into the living room again, wanting to find pictures of Claire, something to occupy my time. But I heard the soft strumming of the guitar, and my attention was diverted.

Michael Glass was sitting on one of the armchairs, playing his guitar. I'm not gonna lie… it sounded beautiful. Almost made me jealous. As he finished his final cord, I made my presence known.

"Great sounds."

Michael looked up at me, mildly surprised. "I didn't notice you there man, sorry."

"No big deal. Like I said, I was enjoying it. Is it a fender?"

"Yea," he said, looking fondly down at his instrument. "Just got her last week, haven't been able to really break her in. You play?"

"Eh," I said, shrugging. "I did for awhile, off and on for a few years really. I still have my Gibson SG, but when the vamps brought me in, they left my stuff at the hotel."

"Where have you been staying?"  
"About 10 minutes from here. I've been working up the courage to come and talk to her."

"Claire?"

"Yea. I found out where she was when she graduated from high school. But I didn't want to bring in all the baggage, so I kept to myself. But when I found out about her parents, I figured it was time for me to come in. But I kept getting nervous, chickening out."

"Naw, I get it. She's been pretty happy here, and we all love having her around. Makes me feel like an idiot sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

Michael sighed, and set down his guitar. " Claire started collage when she was 16, as you well know. But she pissed off one of the big vampires, Monica Morell, and all hell broke loose. She finally got out of there after they pushed her down a flight of stairs."

"What?" I asked in shock.

"Yea, she found us though. The land of misfits. At first I was **not** happy about bringing in a 16 year old. But Eve wanted to keep her so bad. It was like she was a puppy. A very cute, innocent puppy. So after the first couple of bombshells, we decided to keep her. Though, we have all become very attached. Some more than others." He muttered, glancing at the door that Shane and Claire were in.

"So what's up with Shane?" I asked.

"I might ask you the same question. How do you know Shane?"

"A couple of years ago, I lived in Georgetown, just for a few months. I met Shane at this rundown park. We started to just talk. We never said much about our lives, but we respected that it sucked. I only ever did talk to him a few times."

"Shane is my very best friend. I've known him since I was a kid, way before I became a vampire. He was loud in high school, always had a bit of a temper. He had a kid sister who he was really protective of. She died in a fire, and Shane was the reason. The house got burned down because he pissed off a vampire and things went down. So he was really protective of Claire, you know? They were about the same age, Lyssa and Claire."

"Is he good to her?"

Michael sighed again, leaning back in his seat. "Shane hasn't loved anyone in a long time. But he love's Claire. She's the first person he's let in 3 years."

"Is she happy?"

"Yea, I like to think so. She's been pretty upset the past few weeks, but that's obvious."

We sat in silence, and I listened to Michael play. We sat there for a long time. I remember hearing Claire laugh, and cry. But I stayed in my seat, waiting until she wanted to see me.

When it turned 12:00, Eve walked in. "Hey Danny!"

"Hey Eve."

"Hey babe." Eve whispered to Michael, kissing him on the cheek.

"How was your day?" Michael asked, smiling at Eve.

"It was work, you know. Not 'slit my wrists' awful, but not 'I'm thinking about going back tomorrow good."

I chuckled.

"Has Claire come down yet?" Eve asked, taking off her jacket.

"She's up, but she hasn't come down yet." Michael replied.

"Well crap. At least Shane's up there with her. He'll make her see sense."

"I don't think she's blind. Just upset."

"I know."

"Where do you work?" I asked Eve.

She opened her mouth to respond, but glanced at the aproching figures behind my back.

"Hey baby girl!" Eve squealed.

"Hey Eve." I turned around and saw Claire. She looked so much like mom, it was scary. "Hey Danny."

"Hey Claire." I whispered back. I watched as she came close to me, and then threw her arms around me.

I wasn't used to this. I haven't had a lot of human contact over the years. But it was my Claire. My baby sister. So I held her tight to me, trying to fight off the tightening of my throat.

"I've missed you so much." Claire whispered in my shoulder.

"It's ok. I'm here now. Were together again." And we were.

**Satisfied? Probably not. Wasn't the best ending ever. But I wasn't sure where to end it. So this is my current stopping place.**

**For anyone who cares, I kinda did a plot outline. (SO FAR) it looks like there will be another 10 chapters, AT LEAST! Most likely more. **

**Thank you ALL for the reviews! They really do make my day. And encourage me to write more:)**


	10. Chapter 9

** I am ashamed. I know the tomatoes have been rotting in you hands, waiting for a reappearance from the liar and cheat…(Me). But, believe it or not, my computer had crashed.**

** DUN DUN DUN…**

** Every writer's nightmare, right? The though of all your information, your precious stories being taken away, and soon forgotten. **

** AHA! But I saved all of my work! So after 4 weeks of a tune up or whatever they did to my computer, I was able to reboot it:)**

** So here it is. **

*******something I have forgotten to do that is quite important*******

**I do not own Morganville Vampires. But I do own all of the NEW characters that I put in there at my disposal. **

Curled up at the far end of the couch, with a cup of coffee in my hands, I studied my brother. Michael, Shane, and Eve subtly left the room, leaving me and Danny alone to talk for awhile. It was a little weird at first. I knew Danny, my big brother who was afraid of spiders and who had a crush of Lacey Ackerman. But this…. This **man. **This man wasn't Danny anymore. He was a Daniel.

The soft jet-black curls that covered his deep blue eyes. That boy had soft, innocent features that assured you of his good nature. But this man was different. The same, but different. His hair was cut short, rising a few inches off of his head, obviously for convenience. His face was strong, and handsome. But if you looked deep…. Really, really deep… you can almost see Danny.

"What are you looking at?" Danny asked in an off-handed tone.

"You. You look good Danny."

A small smile played off of his lips. "Thanks. Though I can't say you don't look different. You look great. Just like mom."

I smiled at the comment. "Not just alike."

"Pretty damn close."

I laughed, relief coursing through me at the simplicity of the sound. The fact that it took no effort, no uncomfortable feelings to make that sound.

"So how have you been Danny?"

"Pretty good really. I've been moving around for the past couple of months. Can't keep still for more that a few hours, let alone months."

"Still ADD?"

He rolled his eyes at my weak jab. "I do not have ADD, thank you very much. And theirs nothing wrong with ADD."

I laughed at his offensive tone. "Your right, I'm sorry." It was quiet for a moment, and I enjoyed that comfortable silence.

I sighed, guilt creeping up my spine again. "Danny…."

But he cut me off. "Before we start, let me just get this out." He took a deep breath, before saying something that shocked me. "I am so sorry. I'm so sorry that I left you there alone in those woods, with no help, no way to keep yourself safe."

"You were shot!" I exclaimed. "You were a child, and you were shot! What were you supposed to do? I got out of there. And by the grace of God, I was found by people who really cared for me, and made sure that I was safe, well fed, and was able to provide an education that Mom and Dad weren't able to provide. I got lucky. I got away from a scared home, and was able to be taught by a family who was whole. What you don't understand it that I'm sorry Danny. I was living a sheltered, pampered life while you lived on the streets for years-"  
"You're making me sound like I was a homeless, street-rat or something. I had a bed to sleep in every night, and for about five years after mom died, I stayed with an old friend of mine. Your boyfriend Shane, was actually a guy I knew down in Georgetown. We met at the park. He's a good guy."

"He really is." I said, nodding in agreement. He's a great guy actually. He takes care of me, and makes sure I'm happy. He's able to do that, and be happy himself."

We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Then a worry that had been pressing against my heart reappeared. "Danny…"

"Hmm?"

I took a deep breath. "Danny, what happened after I left?" I noticed my voice shook.

He looked at me. "Nothing big. You left, and I got up later the next day. I was found by some guy who was taking a walk through the woods. He took me to the hospital, and patched me up. I faked amnesia for awhile, but when the questions got to be too much, I ran. It took a few months, but by the time I was 13, I was able to stay in a town for a few weeks at a time."

"You stayed with a family there?"

A small smile played at his lips, as he palmed the coffee cup in his hand. Staring at it, he said, "Only one family, really. I stayed with close friends of mine for a couple of years. Then I knew I had to get out and find you."

"I'm sorry." I whisper, my voice catching in my throat.

"Why?"

"You lost your life, because you had to look out for mine."

"Claire, I'm only 23 years old."

"That's a fifth of your life!" I moan, placing my coffee on the table next to the couch. "You deserve to have a life Danny."

"I have a life Claire. I actually do things, believe it or not. I have hobbies. I'm still into art, and music. I still read, and go on dates every once in awhile. But regardless, I am still your older brother, and it's my job to do everything I can for you."

I glance up at him, a small smile on my face. "What about Allie?"

Suddenly the room is tense, uncomfortable. I glance up at Danny, panic overrunning my whole body.

"Danny, I need some details here. What happened to Allie…. And Dad? I haven't heard anything since I was 7."

"Look, all you need to know is the facts." He said, standing up. "I haven't seen Allie, since the last time I saw you. I looked for her, but I could never find her."

I watched as Danny picked up the rubric's cube that I had finished yesterday afternoon, starting to change the colors around. "What about Dad?"

Danny looked at me mournfully. "I don't know where he is. All I know is, he's not dead, and he's not happy.

**Im starting to get discouraged in this fan fiction. Not that yall haven't been AWSOME! Seriously. I'm probably going to keep writing, but I'm starting to feel like this story is pretty bad. If you think I should continue, or have an opinion or idea, please comment!**

**Sorry it's so short. I like cliff hangers. I wrote more, but I'll post it tomorrow. PLEASE REVIEW**


	11. Chapter 10

**Ok I got the next chapter up:) I know their not as long as the older ones are. But I figure posting what I have, and not waiting until I right a really long chapter is better. Thank you ALL for the amazing reviews. **

**I will be continuing this story. I was having a sad pity party, thinking my story was falling flat. I will never be able to tell you all how much your reviews mean to me. They encourage me to write more. **

**So here it is!**

"What do you mean by that?" I shrill.

"I mean that dad has been looking for us for a long time, that's what I mean."

"How do you know?" I gasp.

He looked at me, his face grim, and his eyes full of meaning. "I saw him a couple of years ago."

"What?"

"He didn't see me. I saw him at a local restaurant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I stayed there for a month or so. And he was just sitting there." He whispered. "Just drinking his coffee. I almost had a heart attack."

"Are you sure it was him?" I squeaked.

"I'm sure Claire. How the hell wouldn't I be sure? He looks the same, dammit." He growled, running his hand through his thick curly brown hair. He wasn't mad at me, just mad in general.

"Oklahoma, huh?"

"Yea. I didn't want to get up, because the dinner was pretty small. He sat down, and talked to a couple of guys, drank his coffee, and left."

"How do you know that he's still following us?" I asked him. But he ignored me, his face coloring slightly. So slightly that I almost didn't realize it. "Danny?" I tried again. But suddenly things started to line up, making me see what had been going on….

"Danny you didn't!" I gasped in horror.

Danny shrugged, his face taking on a nice pink color. "I didn't know what else to do at the tim-"

"What the hell does that even mean Danny? All you do in situations like that, is get the hell out of there, so far away that you forget all about it." I snapped. Taking a breath, I tried again. "So you're telling me you followed him to his house-" I trailed off in horror.

Danny kept quiet for a moment. "He didn't have a house.

"Danny!"

"Look, I just went to the house, and poked around while he was gone. I found out a lot of useful information."

"Like?"

"Like he's been looking for us for years. I found a list with our names on it."

"A list?"

He growled, irritated. "Yes a list. Stop asking so many questions. It had your name, my name, and Allie's name written down with like 15 addresses under each of our names."

"So you nicked it."

He shrugged, searching in his bag. He pulled out a rumpled piece of paper. "The scary thing is, I found this address on here."

I gasped, snatching the paper from his hand. Scanning sheet, I saw he was right. The fifth address under my name was the Glass Residence.

"You don't think…" I gasped.

"No." he assured me quickly. "I checked all over his apartment. He only had this paper. Looked like he was moving around a lot. I hope that threw him off a bit."

"Danny that was really dangerous. He would have killed you."

Danny shrugged again. "I know. But it was worth the risk. That's the reason I had to leave Oklahoma City." He pointed to a line with a red marker run through it. "That was my address."

"Why is there a line through it?" I asked curiously.

"I guess he didn't realize that I was living there. I was staying with a girl I met."

I raised my eyebrow and allowed a small smile to cross my face.

"Not like that." He said with a face, snatching the paper from my hand. But I noticed that his cheeks reddened slightly when he turned to put it in his bag again. But I let it go. For now.

I took a deep breath, feeling high strung. "Are you sure there are no more copy's of this?"

"As sure as I can be Claire. I mean, I can never be 100% sure. The only person who really knows is dad, and if I ever see him again…" he trailed off, his expression slowly darkening. "Well if I ever see him again, I don't think I will be saying much to that bastard."

I wanted to tell Danny to stop. But he had every right. We all did. "Danny, I'm so glad you came to find me. I missed you. I didn't know what I was missing, until I remembered. Now I feel like some hole has been filled in my heart." I muttered, my face growing warm. I've never been good at expressing myself.

But he reached over at took my hand, squeezing it lightly. "I've really missed you too."

I smiled, taking his hand, and pulling him up with me. "I think it's time to eat. Let's go in the kitchen."

He shrugged, but it looked like he wanted to say something. "What is it?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "It can wait a bit."

I smiled, and took my past to meet my present.

**Review! And that means you, person who glances at this, and then continues after considering to write a review. If I get reviews, I promise I will go faster. **


	12. Chapter 11

**Here it is! Thank you all for the reviews! I didn't get that many. But thank you all, the ones who took the time two type a couple of words in. So here's the next chapter. It's kinda short, but I'm in that intermission stage of the story. A couple of people sent me their ideas and I loved them. If you have any more, than please, comment, or send me a message. Thank you!**

"So vampire land, eh?" Danny asked me as we walked into the kitchen. Shane, Eve and Michael played a very convincing job, trying to cover up that they weren't listening in. Eve and Michael were better at it, but I could see the frown etched deep into Shane's face.

"Yup." I said, smiling slightly, breathing the smell of Spaghetti, a new dish that Shane learned how to make. I think he just learned it to piss of Michael.

"You never could stay out of trouble."

I smiled again, glancing up at Danny. "Shut up."

"Claire? Trouble?" Eve gasped in mock surprise. Michael snickered.

"Both of you shut up!"

"She gets in trouble here too?" Danny asked.

His question earned a resounding glare, from everyone in the room.

"Really amusing, you guys."

Danny smiled at me, an evil smirk at the edge of his lips. I warned him, using every ounce of heat in my body, willing it to come out of my eyes like lasers. It didn't work today. "She once came home with a split lip, having got into a fist fight with a boy at school."

I clenched my jaw, pulling a plate out of the cabinet, and started slapping spaghetti onto it.

"That wasn't my fault." I muttered, irritated now.

"Bullshit." Danny said with a laugh. "You threw the first punch."

I shrugged, knowing I wouldn't win this fight. "He was a jerk."

"Ouch." Eve said with a laugh.

"I don't think she cried. I just remember her being really mad, then really tired." Danny said thoughtfully.

"Anyways." I started; ready to turn the conversation from me. "How was work, Eve?"

Danny smiled, at my obvious attempt to change the subject. "It was fine. Monica came in with her group, which could have ruined my day. But they just ordered coffee, and chilled out. I think their afraid to start anything."

Shane nodded. "Monica isn't ready to get her hands dirty. She can't handle the heat." He said with venom.

"Who's Monica?" Danny asked. As soon as I opened my mouth, the door bell rang. But Michael got up instead.

"I got it."

"Thanks Michael!" I called to him.

"Monica is… She's…." I started, unsure what to say about Monica.

"Monica's a bitch." Eve said matter-of-factly. Shane nodded in agreement.

Before I could retaliate, Michael appeared through the door, looking wary. "Hey Claire. You've got company."

I turned my head to his voice, and say Amelie behind him. "Good evening Claire. I hope that you and your… brother have a moment? We need to discuss a few things in private."

An uncomfortable feeling sunk into my heart. I knew Amelie wouldn't hurt me. But I wasn't so sure about Danny.

"Ok." I said, ignoring the tense feeling in the room. I set down my cup of coffee, and motioned for Danny to follow me. He stood hesitantly, his outlook now afraid. "Come on Danny."

We followed Amelie into the living room, both of us taking a seat on the couch, while Amelie sat in a straighter, harder chair across from us.

"Well Claire, you gave us quite a scare." Amelie started, glancing between us, probably looking for similarities. She had to be blind not to find them. Hair, face, lips, nose…

"Well, I'm feeling much better now, thank you." I replied carefully… very polite. "I was just a little overwhelmed.

Amelie glanced over at Danny. I could tell she was still trying to figure out what she though of him. "And how are you Daniel?"

But Danny surprised me. Instead of replying back with a smart-assed comment, he merely nodded his head, and replied with a simple, very well. Amelie seemed to like that. "Well that's good. Forgive me and Oliver. I was unable to identify if you were a threat or not."

I saw Danny's jaw jump. Yet he kept his cool and nodded, replying this time with a simple shrug.

"Claire…" she sighed. "I'm sorry, but I need to know what happened."

"I…"

"Why do you need to know?" Danny said harshly.

"Because young man." She said, looking at him. "If you father is who I think he is, then he holds the power to kill us all."

**Ok, really short. But I just had to get that out of the way. I'll try to post something tomorrow. I had TAKS text (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) this week, so I've been swamped. Thank you!**


	13. Chapter 12

**3v3ry6ody5 Fool. You made me laugh. You really did. And LHNT, I appreciate that you take the time to write a review on every single chapter. I can never express to you what that means to me. There are other's who have taken the time to write comments dutifully, and I thank you all! Seriously, you guys are rockin.**

**So here is the next chapter. Yes the last one was left off on a cliff hanger, wasn't it? Mwahaha! So here it is, Thank you. **

**Danny's POV**

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice laced with confusion. This lady reminded me of my 6th grade principle. When I was 11, I got in a fight with another boy after he called me something. It wasn't important what he called me. What was important was, that I had to make sure it never happened again.

It was right after my whole world was turned upside down. My mother had died right before my eyes, my father was the one who killed her, and my sisters were gone…and I had no idea where. I had nightmares every night at the boy's home. I was sent to a place where everybody hated everybody. The anger in those kids was the same in my own. So I got mad. And ended up punching the kid who called me the name in the nose.

So of course I was sent to the principles office. I angrily walked the whole way, a mix of anger and fear in my body. As I walked into that office, I knew that I was going to get busted. Bad. But when I got in there, and talked to the principle, she had this air of… authority. She had power in her words and in her eyes and it scared me. She could read me like a book, and could see every single thought in my mind. I thought about her when I ran away from the home 6 weeks later.

Amelie had that kind of authority to her. The second she found me, I knew that if I tried to fight her, I would end up messed up. This lady, who was about 5 inches shorter than me, scared me. So when she pulls something like that on me and my sister, I kinda freaked out.

"It means, Daniel, that your father was working on something. Something big. Am I right to assume that your father is James Adam Bentley, than we do have quite a big problem."

Claire quietly gasped. "Amelie… Are you talking about the ability to change vampires back?"

The piercing look from Amelie to Claire made **me **uncomfortable. "Yes Claire. I do believe I am. What do you know about that?"

Claire sighed, and started to pick at her nails. Was this a nervous habit? "I don't remember a lot. I was really young…"

"Tell me what you do remember." Amelie said in a voice that didn't give any room for disagreements. I wanted to argue with her, to say that she's been through enough in the last 24 hours. To leave and come again later. But like I knew before, I was going to end up messed up.

"I…" Claire said, closing her eyes against a memory. "I remember him coming home late in the night. He had all of these papers on the kitchen table. He used to drink coffee, and once it spilled on them. They were stained."

"What else?"

"I remember him bringing in one night to show him some of the papers he had. I was so young, but I remember him telling me that this was going to change the world, and that I was going to be apart of it. That scared me so bad."

"Is that all?"

"No…. I remember him…. the night that I left he told me what it was. He used to go to work in a lab every day. It was more like an abandoned warehouse. He was their all the time, working on something. He used to say that he would be the greatest scientist of them all once he was found out."

"Daniel? Do you remember anything?" Amelie asked, staring at me. I almost said no, but I did remember one thing.

"He trapped a vampire. My father was the first one to tell us of vampires. He was insane, but a genius. He ran tests on some woman a long time ago, than killed her."

"Are you sure?" Amelie asked, her voice now urgent. "Are you sure he killed her?"

I was startled by her sudden intensity. "That's what he said. He may have been lying to us, but I remember him telling it to Claire."

Amelie's body seemed to slump down in her chair, which struck me as weird because Amelie was definitely not the kind of person to slump. "What is it Amelie?" Claire asked. "Danny was right, my father is crazy."

"Is?" Amelie asked again, her voice once again sharp and clear. "Is he still alive?"

"Danny said he saw him a couple of years ago. My father is not the kind of man to die in an everyday kind of event. He is much to smart. I don't know where he is, but I know he's alive."

"My dear, this is quite a big ordeal. I'm not sure what to say. Claire, I need you to tell me everything, from the beginning, to when you left that place. Danny, I need you to go tell Michael to call a council meeting. And to get a hold of Myrnin. I need Myrnin here as soon as possible. It is urgent."

I opened my mouth to object. Quite colorfully. But Claire grabbed my arm and shook her head. "It's fine. Just go and then come back."

Claire got it. I didn't want anyone near her. My little sister scared the hell out of me, because if something happened to her-

"I'll be right back." I told them both, standing up. I walked into the kitchen from the back, and saw all three of Claire's roommates pressed up against the door, straining to hear what was going on. "You guys are nosy."

They all jumped a foot. "Damn, you scared me." Shane said, touching his chest. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

"Amelie's body guards are scary?" I asked with a small smile.

"You have no idea." Eve said darkly.

"Hey Michael, Amelie need's you to call up a council meeting and to contact Myrnin. Or whatever the hell his name is."

Michael dashed from the room, and went to the house phone in the hallway. I looked up at Shane. "She's safe in there right? I mean, their not going to start having a quick snack with her, right?"

Shane nodded. "I may not like them, but they haven't hurt Claire yet."

I guess this was going to have to be enough. "Alrighty then. So Shane, your dating my sister, huh?"

Shane looked at me warily, while I saw a wide grin cross Eve's face. "Yea, she's my girlfriend."

I desperately wanted to play the big brother card. But I held it back. "Is she happy? I mean, up until recently."

"I don't know Danny." Eve said, washing the dishes in the sink. "Claire is pretty stoked that you're here. I mean sure, there was a whole lot of baggage with the whole thing, but she's real glad you're here."

I smiled at Eve. I liked her. She was really nice. "Thanks Eve."

She beamed at me as Michael walked in. "Ok, the meetings set up for later this afternoon, and I can't get a hold of Myrnin. He's probably at his lab."

"Who the hell is Myrnin?" I asked.

"Myrnin is Claire's vampire boss. Once they found out what a super genius she was, they assigned crazy Myrnin Claire." Eve said, as she started to put up the dishes.

"That seems to get Claire into a lot of trouble." I said bitterly. "He's crazy, huh?"

"If munching on your lab assistance counts as crazy."

"What!" I had completely gotten up from my chair in outrage. "Why is my sister there?"

"First of all, were really down in the whole Morganville food chain. She, Vampires, are obviously on top. But above the vampires are people like Amelie and Oliver."

"Who's Oliver?"

"The guy who dragged you in here the other day." Shane said in a dry voice as he stood against the door frame.

"Ah."

"Yea, well Amelie's over Oliver. But Oliver comes in second. Amelie founded this place. And Oliver's just an ass who really wants to be Amelie."

"Lot's of drama here?" I asked with a smirk.

"You have no idea." Michael said with an eye roll.

"Well then there are the second and third strings of vampires. Then there are your important humans, like the mayor and such." Eve carried on.

"Then theirs you guys?"

"Not so fast." Shane said.

"No, no, then there are your everyday humans. Then there are your college students, and then there are us. Well me and Shane anyways."

"Where does Claire fit in?" I said, sitting back down in my chair.

"Well, she started off as a college student, then she became one of us, and then she jumped to an important human."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yea. She's the brains of the operation. She gets paid and all, which is great. Too bad there's not a lot more career choices around here. But she got pretty lucky.

"She's with a crazy vampire who eats his lab assistance." I said sarcastically. "That just screams safe."

Eve shrugged. "At least she has a job."

Before I could agree with her, Claire walked in. Her face was pale, and her eyes looked a little wild.

"What's the matter Claire?" I asked, standing up. I stiffened when Amelie walked passed her and to the front door.

"I'll be in touch with you in the next 24 hours. Find out that information, and quickly. This is of dire importance." And with that she left.

"What happened Claire?" Eve asked, coming closer to her best friend.

"Nothing." She said, shaking her head. "We just have to go see Myrnin."

**So here it is:) I didn't get that many reviews, but like I said before, I appreciate all the ones I got before. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll wright!**


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